Nick noticed that his employees were not socializing as much during working hours. Because conversations could not be heard more than 10 to 15 feet away (unlike before, when they could be heard all the way across the 4500 square foot call center), people were not getting into so many conversations, and were consequently experiencing less distraction and able to work more. Nick had several employees tell him they feel they are now more focused and efficient during the work day. “I think we’re covering up the noise that’s there, but I think there’s less noise to begin with because people aren’t talking quite as much.”

So not only does white noise reduce distraction by taking away a lot of the common things that distract people, but it also lowered the overall volume of the call center because people were not talking and interacting as much since they were working. People working more with less distraction? Sounds like sound masking was effective here.

Could you use sound masking in your space to help your employees focus and work better?

It can similarly be applied in an office setting. Distractions from coworkers, phone calls, and  unnecessary or extraneous paperwork  could all be examples of ways that urgent things crowd out important things, i.e. actually getting some work done. It can make your workers feel frustrated because they feel like they are constantly busy, but not actually getting much accomplished.  If you, as a manager, can find a way to cut down on some of the urgent things that your employees encounter then you free them up to do the important work.  Not all urgent matters can be cut out–you still have to take phone calls and paperwork still has to be done. However, one way you can cut down on urgent crowding out the important is through the use of sound masking to decrease conversational distraction. According to an American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) study, workers in offices with even small acoustic treatments:

• Were 48% more focused on their work
• 51% less distracted, resulting in
• 10% fewer errors and a
• 27% decrease in worker stress

By using sound masking effectively, you can filter out the urgent things that are taking away from the important task of working and finishing projects. Fight the tyranny of the urgent with sound masking!

World's Best Boss...questionable, at best.

Fly on the Wall

When you watch shows like the Office, it’s easy to figure out what went wrong: management.  I think we can all agree that Michael Scott is the world’s worst manager, regardless of show ratings.  If you had to describe his managerial style, it could be summed up in one word: distracting.

However, when you step back and try to figure out how to maximize productivity amongst your workers, it might be tempting to place the blame elsewhere….anywhere but management (because management is first person).  Take a look at a recent description of the modern work place by Jason Friedman of 37 Signals:

What happens is, is that you show up at work and you sit down and you don’t just immediately begin working, like you have to roll into work. You have to sort of get into a zone, just like you don’t just go to sleep, like you lay down and you go to sleep. You go to work too. But then you know, 45 minutes in, there’s a meeting. And so, now you don’t have a work day anymore, you have like this work moment that was only 45 minutes. And it’s not really 45 minutes, it’s more like 20 minutes, because it takes some time to get into it and then you’ve got to get out of it and you’ve got to go to a meeting.

And there you have it- more distraction.  Maybe it’s not you.  Whew.  Wait- there’s more:

And managers are the biggest problem because their whole world is built around interruption. That’s what they do. Management means interrupting. Hey, what’s going on? How’s this going? Let me call a meeting because that’s what I do all day, I call meetings. And so, managers are the real problems here and that’s got to change too.

Yikes.  That’s a real bummer.  Without meaning to be, you have become Michael Scott.

How can you un-MichaelScott?

Take a day or two or three, even a week, and survey the situation.  Is what Friedman said true?  Do your workers feel distracted all day?  Do your meetings feel pointless?  Even if you disagree, public perception is king.  If your workers feel interrupted and that their time has been wasted, they will be frustrated about it and, obviously, less productive.

Remedy the situation.

• Rework your office space so that people aren’t crammed next to each other.
• Institute a “quiet time” like IBM and Intel did.  It’s just time to work on projects and be free from distraction.
• Minimize conversational and other noise-related distractions with sound masking, which provides a quieter, less stressful, more peaceful work environment.
• Streamline the tech devices you use- consider instituting a Campfire system, or something akin to what Friedman suggested, that enables workers to ignore nonessential interruptions and keep working until there’s a natural break.

Whatever you do, don’t let yourself off too easily- you are the manager and ultimately the one responsible for the bottom line.  Be creative and help you workers to work.

‘Ability to do distraction free solo work’

The first startling statistic he quotes is from a study done in 2002. “In a survey of 13000 office employees, the workplace attribute found to be most effective was the ‘ability to do distraction free solo work‘ followed by ‘support for impromptu interactions (both in one’s workspace and elsewhere.)” These employees just want a place where they can think and work by themselves, unless they need help or need to bounce some ideas off of someone else.

Improved Productivity
Mardex also quotes some findings by the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). This group did a national survey and found that “more than 70 percent of respondents indicated that their productivity would improve if their workspace was less noisy. A similar ASID survey of corporate executives indicated that only 19 percent were conscious of any sort of noise problem.”  In other words, the workers say they would just like a quiet place to work ,and their management is unaware of the problem.

You are aware of a problem if you are reading this site. Your workers would like a quiet place to work, but still have the (much needed) freedom to share ideas and provide important feedback on work that is being done. They also feel that if they are given a quiet place to work, their productivity will go up. We think the best way to facilitate this is sound masking.  It is loud enough to drown out conversational distractions, but unlike headphones or strict rules about noise, still allows for discussions. According to these studies, your workers will thank you for it.

Next Monday, we will highlight some other points that Mr. Mardex made in his very helpful paper. See you then!

Can you really blame a worker for being unproductive here?

Cubicles

This set-up does not exactly inspire one to work.  Talk, yes.  Eavesdrop, sure.  Trip people as they walk by, absolutely.  Work, no.  While efficient in terms of a corporate budget, cubicles are horribly inefficient in terms of worker productivity.  For instance, the average worker is distracted more than two hours every day.  When your work day conists of 8 hours, losing one-fourth of that time seems ridiculous.

Get rid of the cubicles?

You don’t have to tear out the cubicles or remodel to fix the sound leaks inherent to this type of office.  In fact, many workers have been creative on their own- they wear headphones to work or try out free white noise generators or purchase their own white noise machines.  The problem with headphones is that an employee’s favorite music is rarely conducive to work either, and individual sound masking units only help that one worker (and not the hundreds who are still untreated and therefore still working only six hours a day).  Many businesses have opted to treat the entire office with sound masking that is mounted directly in the ceiling itself.  This type of technology (direct field) delivers consistent, uniform sound that covers the intrusive noises so common in the typical cubicle-ridden office.

As a manager, it’s your job to get your employees to work.  Times are tough, money is tight.  But a simple investment in sound masking could help you reclaim your company’s portion of the $700billion lost to distractions in 2008.  Don’t you think it’s worth it?